Officials in west Siberia plan to launch a new scientific institute dedicated to studying yetis after a spate of reported sightings in remote areas.

As the AFP is reporting, the region will host an international conference on the ape-like, mythological creatures later this year.

"Organizing an institute or a scientific center would be a logical continuation of research into the yeti," the administration in Kemerovo, a Russian coal-mining region, in western Siberia said, according to the AFP. "The town of Tashtagol will host an international conference with leading experts into hominids. Based on its results, we will take a decision on opening a scientific research institute to study the yeti."

Kemerovo officials cited researcher Igor Burtsev as saying that around 30 Russian scientists are studying yetis -- also known as "Abominable Snowmen" -- and could work together at the planned institute, the Telegraph reports. "We think that the yeti is a separate branch of human evolution. It lives in harmony with nature," he said.

According to Yahoo! News, Burtsev told Russian newspaper Itar Press he believed he spotted evidence of a yeti after an expedition last year. "I saw markers [half-broken branches] the creature uses to mark the controlled territory," he is quoted as saying. "In the woods I have found several artifacts to confirm my theory. I plan to find the Bigfoot's shelter and even try to contact the creature."

A North Carolina man, Thomas Byers, claims to have captured the legendary Bigfoot on video.

Unfortunately, the 5-second clip -- filmed in Rutherford County on Tuesday -- shows little more than a blurry silhouette running across a road, and a sound that Byers alleges to be the creature's "snarl."

Byers' website -- where he initially posted the clip and his accompanying tale of the encounter -- has him confessing every detail of the Bigfoot ("Knobby," as he calls it), from its six to seven foot height to it's stench reeking "like a cross between road kill and a skunk."

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials are scratching their heads over an unidentified dead mammal that was first spotted July 31 on a Douglas County road.

The creepy-looking all white creature with five claws on its front paws, long toenails and dark tufts of hair on its back has prompted speculation that Minnesota is home to the legendary chupacabra, KSAX-TV reports.

..."It's got five long front claws on each of its front feet, which would be characteristic of a badger," Kotts told the TV station. "I ran the pictures past a few other DNR folks that have a lot of trapping and/or furbearer experience, and they all said it's hard to be 100 percent sure what it is ... but if it's a Minnesota animal, it's probably a badger."

"We could have done something important Max. We could have fought child abuse or Republicans!" --Oona Hart (played by Victoria Foyt), in the 1995 movie "Last Summer in the Hamptons."